City of Fortuna Says Latest Refinance Will Save About $300,000 Per Year

The City of Fortuna has demonstrated its stewardship of ratepayer dollars by keeping a watchful eye on the bond market. Yesterday, the City concluded efforts to capitalize on favorable market conditions to refinance $17 million in bonds including wastewater utility debt ($10.7 million) and water utility debt ($6.5 million).

“We realized that refinancing the outstanding debt was the right thing to do and that now was the right time to do it,” said City Manager, Mark Wheetley. “The result is significant savings for Fortuna’s water and wastewater ratepayers – the combined net savings will be over $3.9 million over the life of the bonds, reducing total payments by approximately $300,000 per year.”

The City was able to take advantage of low interest rates to refinance its 2006 Wastewater Revenue Bonds and 2006 Water Revenue Bonds, significantly reducing borrowing costs. The City received strong credit ratings from Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on its water and wastewater utilities, with the water enterprise rated “A+” and the wastewater enterprise rated “A,” both with a stable outlook.

“In our role as responsible stewards for the community’s fiscal resources, we worked in tandem with our team of fiscal and legal experts to navigate and evaluate every step of the bond refinancing process to reach this successful conclusion,” said Fortuna Finance Director, Aaron Felmlee. The City is also assessing opportunities to refinance tax allocation refunding bonds as the Successor Agency to the former Fortuna Redevelopment Agency.

Mayor Sue Long stated, “The City of Fortuna is committed to the longstanding practice of conservative financial decision making. The City Council and staff are ever mindful that to be worthy of the public trust, we must strive to provide efficient and cost-effective services to the citizens of the Fortuna community. The success of these efforts demonstrates that commitment.”

And…..??? The water pressure is EPIC in tuna ! It will shatter plastic shutoffs lolz. The water is clean and abundant . $60/month is literally 2$ a day!!!! If u had ever set up or maintained your OWN water system (often systems involve pumping! And even gravity feed may involve maintaining a 1/4 mile of line on an 40-80acre parcel..) you would shout for joy at the h20 service in tuna. So worth it!

This could be a good move. If I understood it right, I recently read where this type of bond refi will not be available next year. Hopefully they pass the savings down to the community, as a good city board should do. If not, there should be no increases to any services for many years ahead.